The Painful Path to Christlikeness

Over the past several years I have had the chance to interact with many people who have had joints replaced. That procedure is often extremely difficult and painful. Last month I was speaking with a lady that had both knees replaced at the same time and was now back to full strength. I asked her how she was doing and her reply was "it was so worth it!"

As I was reading my Bible this morning in my office, that statement came to my mind. As people, we are willing to go through great pain and inconvenience to get to a point that is better than where we are presently. My next thought the Holy Spirit gave to me was convicting. How much pain are we as the body of Christ ready to go through to get to a better place than we are now?

Trust me, I am no masochist. I enjoy avoiding pain. But the modern American church seems to value comfort over growth (I am not talking numerical, but spiritual), peace over righteousness, and unity over truth. 

Let me explain. How many times have we thought, said or heard something close to the following: "I know that they are in sin, but who am I to judge?" or "I know that God isn't please with that, but if I say something it will just make it a bigger deal. Better to just leave it alone" or from a Pastor's prospective "I know that they need confronted about that area, but if I do they might leave the church."

All of these statements in general demonstrate a real struggle in the church today. Although we are willing to go through great physical pain for future improvement, we seem to lack the desire to do the same spiritually. Why is it that we don't have that desire? Let me make 3 observations:

1. We don't understand practical sanctification
• I think the church has a pretty good grasp on the ultimate sanctification. We know that eventually when we get to heaven, we will be free from this sin cursed body and be able to worship God as He is worthy to be worshiped. 
• The thing we don't grasp well is that God wants to start changing us into His image right now! He wants us to be more like Him on a daily basis. He wants us to put off sin, and put on righteousness. God is glorified when we love what He loves, and hate what He hates.
2. We don't understand what a healthy church really is
• To most people a healthy church is where people want to attend and feel loved and welcomed. These aren't bad things, they just aren't what necessarily makes a church healthy. 
• One aspect of a healthy church is that it doesn't tolerate sin. I don't mean that people are perfect, or that you get to a point where you don't sin anymore. I mean a healthy church recognizes people as sinful, and as they sin, works with them to correct that issue and make it right. Basically help the grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. 
3. We don't value Christ more than everything else
• I understand that ministry is a people job. But when people become the center of church and Christ is removed to the secondary or lower position, it begins to fall apart.
• We need to love Christ more than our comfort, more than being afraid of standing for truth, more than our preferences. 

When we begin to grasp practical sanctification, when our churches are truly healthy, and we value Christ more than anything, then our outreach will look different because our churches will be different because the people who make up our churches will be radically different. Pain isn't fun, but the church should eagerly embrace it if it will make us more like Christ.